Soldiers in Iraq among 1M Jews in today's Shabbat Project

One million Jews in more than 1,000 cities in 98 countries worldwide are celebrating this Shabbat together, in the annual Shabbat Project.

Also partaking are Jews who are stationed on US army bases. These include Chaplain (Maj.) Shlomo Schulman, who is on the Coalition military base in northern Iraq, and Major Charles Lewis at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait – both of whom recorded video messages for the project.

Established in 2013, this year’s Shabbat Project will include approximately 300 cities and towns in Israel, and over 500 cities in the US.

The Shabbat Project is a global, grassroots movement that brings Jews from across the world together to keep a single Shabbat, transcending religious affiliation, political persuasion and other arbitrary divides such as age, language and lifestyle. It includes thousands of events and initiatives being rolled out around the globe.

As part of their “Radical Hospitality” initiative, San Diego have arranged more than 1,000 Shabbat meals at private homes across the county.

In Long Island, locals will enjoy Kabbalat Shabbat services, singing in the streets, and a “Dark Tisch” – a Friday night meditative gathering held in near-complete darkness.

Ten cities across the United States are hosting “Pink Challah Bakes” to commemorate Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Around 30 apartment buildings across Santiago, Chile, are hosting Friday night dinners in the lobby to help neighbours get to know each other better.

In Puerto Iguazu, Argentina, the owner of a local backpacker’s lodge is offering free accommodation and meals to anyone who keeps Shabbat.

A popular cigar lounge in Grenoble, southeastern France, is gearing up for an evening of Shabbat-themed improv theatre.

In Sydney, Australia, thousands are expected at a musical Kabbalat Shabbat on Coogee Beach.

Kochav Yair, Israel, is running a Shabbat-themed, two-day treasure hunt for the town’s kids, followed by a Friday night kiddush laid out on 30 neighborhood streets.

More than a thousand Tel Avivians are sitting down to a Friday night dinner in a shipping hangar at the Tel Aviv Port.

A group of mountaineers summiting Kilimanjaro are pausing for 25 hours to keep Shabbat, 4,000 feet above sea level.

Zuriel Solangi, a lone Jew in Larkana, Pakistan, is joining Faisel Benkhald, a lone Jew in Karachi, in keeping Shabbat with the rest of the Jewish world